Is Dortmund’s season falling apart?

Can anybody believe that Dortmund have thrown away another massive lead at the top of the Bundesliga? Well, yes we can, as last season BVB started like a locomotive train only to drop like a stone in a pond. The German club drafted in Peter Stoger mid-season to replace Peter Bosz as head coach and the Austrian managed to guide Dortmund to the Champions League spots by the skin of their teeth.

This season is following a similar pattern, as BVB heads into their Champions League last-16 second leg against Tottenham this evening. Not only do BVB look like blowing it in the Bundesliga, but they also face a 3-0 deficit against the north London side in Europe too.

Mountain to climb after poor form

Dortmund looked so formidable and free-flowing with their football at the start of the season. However, Lucien Favre’s team heads into tonight’s clash with a mountain to climb after that aforementioned heavy defeat at Wembley in the first leg.

The defeat looks to be a fatal one to BVB’s hopes of making the Champions League last eight. Maybe it would not be the worst thing in the world for the German side to exit the competition.

A good performance and a win would, however, lift a team, which has now recorded just one victory in their last seven competitive matches. Dortmund are highly unlikely to win the Champions League, so with the distraction of the competition out of the way they can concentrate on winning the German league title.

A similar situation to England in the Bundesliga

While Dortmund will be concentrating on the Champions League tonight, their lead at the top of the Bundesliga is now down to just superior goal difference. There is a strange similarity developing between the Bundesliga and the Premier League.

Both leagues had challengers who established strong and some thought unassailable leads at the top of the table, only for the reigning champions to roar back and rein their challengers in.

In the Premier League’s case, Manchester City have leapfrogged challengers Liverpool. In the Bundesliga, perennial champions Bayern Munich have overcome a shaky start to life under Niko Kovac to move level on points with their arch-rivals.

If Dortmund’s poor form continues for much longer, then no doubt Bayern will do what City have done to Liverpool and move above the challengers in the table. A win against Spurs would at least stop the rot and move some way to restore confidence in the Dortmund squad.

Bayern Munich the favourites to win the Bundesliga

Despite Dortmund enjoying such a stellar start their Bundesliga campaign, reigning champions Bayern Munch have still been well fancied to win the German title in many quarters for much of the campaign. The Bavarians recent good form and Dortmund’s slip-ups have led to Bayern being restored as title favourites for the German top-flight at odds of 1/3, with Dortmund now 9/4 to finish the season as German champions.

It is nice to see the status quo upset in big European leagues, especially leagues like the Bundesliga where Bayern have been so dominant in recent years. I have watched Dortmund play on a number of occasions this season. When they are on song, they are a joy to watch.

The likes of Jadon Sancho, Marco Reus and Barcelona flop Paco Alcacer are exciting players in a team that could well, unfortunately, end the season with very little to show for efforts once again.

My hope for Dortmund is that they defeat Tottenham and realise that there is no need to panic and that they rediscover the form that made them so brilliant to watch earlier in the season.

Is Dortmund’s season falling apart?